


The Edge of the World

by Kirsten



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-12
Updated: 2006-07-12
Packaged: 2017-10-13 15:16:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/138743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirsten/pseuds/Kirsten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a pub at the ends of the ocean. It is old and dirty, and the bottles on the shelves are covered in dust.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Edge of the World

There is a pub at the ends of the ocean. It is old and dirty, and the bottles on the shelves are covered in dust. Jack has swaggered inside, hat perched upon his head, sword in hand and pistol at hip. Coin is hard to come by at this stage in the game, and he has nothing to barter but a smile.

He has gone to the landlady, who is Tia Dalma. “Let it be rum, my good woman,” he has said, and he has taken her hand, kissed it and bowed low.

“There is no rum in this place,” says Tia Dalma.

“What?” Jack is astonished and outraged. “No rum?”

“No rum for the likes of you in this place, Jack Sparrow,” says Tia Dalma, and she has been laughing at him the whole while.

Jack has been glaring an age, and it is no wonder he has forgotten his anger. He has taken back her hand, and he will be leering. “If I should be stuck here, there must be some compensation. Savvy?”

She is laughing again. “Scoundrel.”

Jack’s eyebrows have twitched, and he is smiling. “Not that kind of compensation, love,” he has said, and then he has pilfered a shiny new ring from her finger.

This time, Tia Dalma has kissed his hand. “It will be fleeting,” she says, “and it will be infinite.”

Jack is nodding. He has never grasped logic.

“Keep the ring,” Tia Dalma says, and closes his fingers around it.

Jack has already resolved to do exactly that. “Get me some rum, love.”

“There will be rum where you are home,” says Tia Dalma, and then she and the pub disappear.

Jack is standing on a beach, white sand to the side and blue sea to the fore, and there is his _Pearl_ , anchored just off shore. She has always been a beautiful lady. She has always been temptation.

“But worth it,” says Jack, and he has raised up a toast. There is rum in this bottle and fire in the hold. It will be fleeting. His love is infinite.

And Tia Dalma’s ring has always been old.


End file.
